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Author | Enid Blyton |
---|---|
Illustrator | Treyer Evans |
Language | English |
Series | The Five Find-Outers |
Genre | Children's novel |
Publisher | Methuen |
Publication date | 1950 |
Publication place | United Kingdom |
Preceded by | The Mystery of the Pantomime Cat |
Followed by | The Mystery of the Vanished Prince |
The Mystery of the Invisible Thief is a novel written by Enid Blyton. It is the eighth in the popular The Five Find-Outers children's mystery series. It was published in 1950. [1]
The Five Find-Outers are having tea at a local gymkhana with Inspector Jenks and his god-daughter Hilary, when a robbery occurs in a nearby house. The robber disappears from the scene of the crime without a trace and when the burgled house turns out to be Hilary's, the children have the perfect excuse to investigate.
The mysterious thief leaves only a few clues behind — enormous footprints, glove prints, a strange criss-cross mark on the ground and two torn pieces of paper. The only people in the village with feet big enough to fit the footprints are Mr Goon (the local policeman) and Colonel Cross, neither of whom seem a likely culprit.
Fatty uses his disguises to gather important information and in doing so outwits Mr Goon, especially when both go at the same time to see Colonel Cross to ask him about his large shoes.
The thief strikes again on a number of occasions, once in Fatty's own shed and at the house of a Mrs Williams. On each occasion the same clues are found — but apparently nobody sees the thief.
Tired and frustrated at their lack of progress, Pip plays a practical joke on the others, wearing a pair of large boots and leaving giant footprints for the others to find and search in vain for the thief. When found out, the others are angry with Pip, until suddenly Fatty declares that Pip has solved the mystery. The thief has also done what Pip has done in jest and turns out to be the baker, a small man, who used the boots to give the impression that he was much larger. This allowed him to use escape options such as climbing out of a window and down a drainpipe, that would have been impossible for a bigger man.
A similar strategy to the one used in this book (a small man using larger shoes to appear bigger than he is), was used by Enid Blyton's Secret Seven book, Shock for the Secret Seven , although there the criminal was a dog-napper rather than a thief.
Enid Mary Blyton was an English children's writer, whose books have been worldwide bestsellers since the 1930s, selling more than 600 million copies. Her books are still enormously popular and have been translated into ninety languages. As at June 2019, Blyton held the 4th place for the most translated author. She wrote on a wide range of topics, including education, natural history, fantasy, mystery, and biblical narratives. She is best remembered for her Noddy, Famous Five, Secret Seven, the Five Find-Outers, and Malory Towers books, although she also wrote many others, including; St. Clare's, The Naughtiest Girl, and The Faraway Tree series.
The Secret Seven or Secret Seven Society is a fictional group of child detectives created by Enid Blyton and based on the publisher's children. They appear in one of several adolescent detective series which Blyton wrote.
The Five Find-Outers and Dog, also known as The Five Find-Outers, is a series of children's mystery books written by Enid Blyton. The first was published in 1943 and the last in 1961. Set in the fictitious village of Peterswood based on Bourne End, close to Marlow, Buckinghamshire, the children Fatty, who is the leader of the team, Larry, Pip, Daisy, Bets and Buster, Fatty's dog, encounter a mystery almost every school holiday, always solving the puzzle before Mr Goon, the unpleasant village policeman, much to his annoyance.
Goon may refer to:
The children's books of Enid Blyton were illustrated by a large number of artists, ranging from figures known for other work to humbler commercial artists, who in some cases were anonymous. Since the Blyton texts mainly used very simple language, the work of the illustrators was an important part of the appeal of many of the works.
The Mystery of Holly Lane is a 1953 children's mystery novel by English author Enid Blyton, and the eleventh book in the Five Find-Outers series.
The Mystery of Banshee Towers by Enid Blyton is the last children's mystery novel in a series of fifteen known collectively as The Five Find-Outers and Dog. The series ran for eighteen years, from 1943 to 1961.
This is a list of 762 books by Enid Blyton (1897–1968), an English children's writer who also wrote under the pseudonym of Mary Pollock. She was one of the most successful children's storytellers of the 20th century.
The Mystery of the Spiteful Letters was the fourth book in Enid Blyton's The Five Find-Outers children's mystery series. The novel was published in 1946 by Methuen and illustrated by Joseph Abbey.
The Mystery of the Burnt Cottage is the first in the Five Find-Outers series of children's mystery novels by Enid Blyton. It was initially published in 1943 and continues to be frequently reissued.
The Mystery of the Missing Necklace — is a book in the series of Five Find-Outers children's mystery novels by Enid Blyton, published in 1947 by Methuen and illustrated by Joseph Abbey.
The Mystery of the Disappearing Cat (1944) is the second in the Five Find-Outers series of children's mystery novels by Enid Blyton. It was published by Methuen and Co Ltd and follows the first book in the series, The Mystery of the Burnt Cottage. It tells of a stolen cat the group of children work to find.
The Mystery of the Secret Room (1945) is the third in the Five Find-Outers series of children's mystery novels by Enid Blyton. Illustrated by Joseph Abbey, it was published by Methuen.
The Mystery of the Hidden House is the sixth in the series of Five Find-Outers children's mystery novels by Enid Blyton. It was first published in 1948 by Methuen and was illustrated by Joseph Abbey.
The Mystery of the Pantomime Cat, published 1949, is the seventh novel in the Five Find-Outers children's mystery series written by Enid Blyton.
The Mystery of the Missing Man, published 1956, is the thirteenth novel in the children's mystery series The Five Find-Outers, written by Enid Blyton and originally illustrated by Lilian Buchanan.
The Mystery of the Vanished Prince, published in 1951, is the ninth novel in the Five Find-Outers series of children's mysteries, written by Enid Blyton.
The Mystery of the Strange Messages is a children's mystery novel written by Enid Blyton and published in 1957. It is the fourteenth book in the Five Find-Outers series featuring Fatty, Pip, Larry, Daisy, Bets and Buster the Scottie dog, as well as Mr Goon and his nephew Ern.
The Mystery of the Strange Bundle is a children's mystery novel written by Enid Blyton and published in 1952. It is the tenth book of The Five Find-Outers series.
The Mystery of Tally-Ho Cottage is a 1954 children's mystery novel written by Enid Blyton and illustrated by Treyer Evans. It is the twelfth book in the Five Find-Outers series.